Hearty Carrot and Potato Soup
A simple stovetop soup of sweet carrots, onion and potatoes simmered in a savory stock until tender. Comforting, warming and light.
- Total
- 40 min
- Prep 10 · Cook 30
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Sweating · Simmering
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Peel the onion, carrot and potato. Chop the onion into 1 cm pieces, slice the carrot into 1 cm rounds and cut the potato into 2 cm cubes.
~10 min
-
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally.
~5 min
Sweating onion in oil over gentle heat softens it and releases sweetness without browning, building a mild flavor base.
Sweating Cook onion over medium-low heat until soft and translucent, not browned. If it starts to color, lower the heat so it sweetens gently.
-
Add the carrot and potato to the pot. Crumble in the stock cube and pour in 500 ml water. Stir in 0.25 tsp salt and 0.25 tsp black pepper.
~3 min
Simmering the vegetables in stock lets them soften and exchange flavor, while the stock cube dissolves to season the liquid.
-
Bring the pot to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, until the carrot and potato are tender when pierced with a knife.
~20 min
Gentle simmering keeps vegetables intact while they tenderize; a hard boil would break them apart and cloud the broth.
If the soup reduces too much while simmering, add a splash of water to loosen it back to a pourable consistency.
Simmering Keep the liquid at a gentle bubble, not a rolling boil. Simmer until a knife slides easily into the carrot and potato.
-
Mash or blend about half of the soup for a creamier texture, or leave it chunky. Taste and adjust salt and black pepper if needed.
~2 min
Mashing or blending part of the soup releases starch from the potatoes, thickening the liquid and making it creamy.
For a thicker soup, mash the potato pieces against the side of the pot with a spoon before blending part of the soup.